Afghanistan cricket team gave the defending champions a run for their money in the 13th match of the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 tournament. The Afghans put up a tremendous fighting display against the Three Lions at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. Batting first, Hashmatullah Shahidi and Co. set up a target of 285. Rahmanullah Gurbaz was the pick of the batters as he chipped in with 80 off 57 balls.
He constructed his innings with the help of 8 fours and 4 sixes at a sterling strike rate of 140.37. Wicketkeeper-batsman Ikram Alikhil also batted pretty well by scoring 58 (3 fours and 2 sixes) as Afghanistan posted a pretty decent total on the board. On the contrary, Jos Buttler and Co were nowhere close to kick-starting the game positively before slowly playing into the hands of Afghanistan’s bowlers.
Rashid Khan dedicates this huge win to Afghanistan earthquake victims
Afghanistan’s hard work eventually bore fruit as they ticked the boxes wherever required, which helped them secure a 69-run victory over the defending champions. England would be very much gutted with themselves for being unable to crack the code. After the game, Rashid Khan dedicated Afghanistan’s 69-run victory to his country’s earthquake victims and the fans lauded him for his heartwarming gesture.
Rashid Khan said "Cricket is the only source of happiness in Afghanistan, recently there was an Earthquake, many lost everything, this will give them some happiness – this is for them". pic.twitter.com/NSOp3SP9kV
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) October 15, 2023
While speaking to the broadcaster after the game, Rashid Khan said, “Cricket is the only source of happiness in Afghanistan, recently there was an Earthquake, and many lost everything, this will give them some happiness – this is for them”. Afghanistan ran through a terrible experience as it was struck by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake last week that killed at least 2,000 people and injured over 9,000. Earlier, Rashid Khan announced that he would be donating all of his World Cup 2023 fees to those affected ones from the Afghanistan earthquake.
Harry Brook was the only England batsman who showed some fight in the run-chase as he scored 66 off 61 including 7 fours and a six. In the end, England were skittled out for 215, in what was an embarrassing finish for them. Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman weaved the magic with the ball by taking 3 wickets each.
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Mujeeb dismissed Joe Root, Harry Brook and Chris Woakes during the game and was named the Man of the Match. Afghanistan climbed to the sixth spot in the table (1 win, 2 defeats) after earning their first win of this edition’s World Cup whereas England are fifth on the table (1 win, 2 defeats).